A comparison of type-making technologies, with a comment on the shift from manufacturing processes with dedicated equipment to knowledge professions with generic capital equipment.
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thoughts baby, these curves make me think naughty thoughts baby, these curves make me think naughty thoughts baby, these curves make me think naughty thoughts baby, these curves make me think naughty thoughts baby, these curves make me think naughty thoughts baby, these curves make me think naughty thoughts
SCH: …almost anything is possible if a good argument is provided,[…] if the design is not among the accepted conventions of the moment possibly it will be in the future (or not) (A student question)
Then let’s assume that we can represent them as points in a coordinate space (this is oversimplifying, but imagining more than two dimensions is tricky): they will form a cloud that is fairly dense. The strength of the patterns for new typefaces that do a comparable job will be very weak near the centre of the cloud, and progressively stronger as you move away.
So, if Minion is at the centre, then Cardea is a little bit further out (so the designer can make it individual but it still is a “comfortably readable typeface for prose in Northern Europe”, and Capucine is going too far.
[Oversimplifying] Conventions develop slowly, gradually populated by a cloud of typefaces. Imagine a cloud moving slowly from an “old-style / transitional serifs” position to a “low-contrast slabs” position, to a “modulated sans” position over twenty or thirty years, as peoples’ reading habits evolve.
Redefining trends of use; genres of typefaces for specific uses; motivator typefaces that shift genres to contribute to a trend; and outlier typefaces, that may generate spikes of attention, and enable other typefaces to act as motivators
Pointers for typeface reviews (1/3): > fit of typeset text within the brief > key dimensions within the body > stroke thickness range > balance of key strokes and space within and between letters
- Key properties of text typefaces - Shapes contributing to homogeneity / individuality - Key proportions in the lowercase - Stroke thickness as a unit of measurement - Balancing key strokes and space - Stroke modulation and transitions to vertical strokes - In- and outstroke recipes - Optical alignments in the horizontal axis - Patterns and exceptions in lettershapes - Dimensions within and across cases
- Setting parameters from a typographic brief - Body sizing for paragraph setting - Case differentiation for different briefs - Family composition planning - Mapping families to CSS weights - Planning weights and styles within paragraphs - Planning weights and styles for editorial typography - Planning weights and styles for complex texts